


The War was in Color

by Bloodysyren



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:09:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22322341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bloodysyren/pseuds/Bloodysyren
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Kudos: 6





	The War was in Color

Every step he took was trailing blood. It was everywhere. The crimson water stained the ground, his skin. It was in his hair, in his eyes. There was no source. It dripped from his fingertips, from his face. There was no one pain. Pain was everywhere. It stung his eyes, it spread like a poison through every limb. But he still walked, like a man in sleep. Bodies were strewn around him, enemies and allies as the battlefield stretched on forever.

He could hear the pitiful wailing of wounded soldiers. The ragged cries for help. The determined grunts and hissing painful-sounding noises of soldiers trying to conquer their pain. Bloodied limbs. The stark white flash of bone jutted from the ground, as if it were growing a new race of people. A people without war.

He stumbled on silently, feet leaving red track marks behind him, endlessly. He turned to every barely-living soldier he saw. He couldn’t speak to any of them. His mind screamed out loud,

“Please! Let me help you! I’ll fix it all, I promise! You’ll forget all of this! You’ll make it through! You’ll walk again. You’ll be able to hold your daughter, to kiss your wife. You’ll leave all of this behind you. You’ll see all of your friends, your father, your mother, your lover. It’ll all be alright.”

But no one heard him. The air around him was loud with deafening silence. They were all deaf to each other’s cries. He dragged his feet through red-tinged mud, the tracks of his boots depressing the ground beneath his feet, soaked with red. He brought his hands up to his face, trickling with blood. The battlefield stretched out to the sky but as he stopped walking he came to a cliff’s edge. The wind blew strong here, fresh, soothing. Glancing down a wrenching sob caught in his throat. He could feel his tears being borne away on the wind. An abandoned pile of bodies lay at the bottom of the high cliff. A gruesome reminder that there was no hope.

He kicked a stone off of the edge and watched it tumble down, bouncing off of the still lifeless bodies below him. He could feel the wind rushing around him, carrying his thoughts off like so many pieces of blank paper. He felt the weightless pull of thin air and fell towards the soft bodies. He knew that like them, death would open her arms to him, comforting and final. The only real truth of life. As he hit the ground, feeling the immediate impact and complete pain of all of his bones being broken in the blink of an eye, the sudden crashing rushing of the blood in his eyes. Everything went black.

The bodies were soft. There was blackness all around him. A faint glow shuddered off to his left side. He felt smooth bed-warm skin brushing along his shoulder, his waist, his leg. Steve gasped suddenly, loud in the silence of the night. He rustled through the sheets and stood up, blindly fumbling towards the bathroom. He closed the door and flipped the light switch, bringing his mind back to the sterile, clean, sharp-lined brightness of reality. He was in Tony’s house, Tony’s bed, Tony’s arms.

The playboy was sleeping soundly as the soldier looked at his tear-stained face in the mirror. He touched the clear wetness against his cheeks, swearing that he would see the sharp sting of red when he pulled his fingers away. But it was just a shimmering silver. He heard the bathroom door open and saw the reflection of Tony standing sleepily in the doorway. Steve turned suddenly and swept up the other man into the tight circle of hi arms. Tony straightened suddenly, being caught off guard in the middle of the night when all he wanted to do was use the restroom.

Steve hugged him tightly. The billionaire could never cease to smile whenever Steve hugged him so tightly, so lovingly. Those strong fingers stroked over the small of Tony’s back, as if the soldier was trying to make sure that he was a living thing. Not just an illusion that would fade away, that would drift through his fingers like the wind. Tony smiled good-naturedly and rested his head against Steve’s muscled shoulder.

“What brought this on all of a sudden, Rogers?” The soldier was quiet for a little while. His voice broke through the silence like a melting river,

“I’m just so happy that I get to be here with you now. It’s just so comforting. Your presence, your physical form. I’m so blessed to have someone as wonderful as you in my life.” Tony smiled cockily ‘I am pretty wonderful’ he thought. But Steve continued.

“I had another bad nightmare. But when I woke up, you were there. The light in the darkness of my memories.” Steve hugged Tony tight and the playboy could feel the wet press of tears against his shoulder. He stroked the smooth wide back of his lover and silently whispered to that soft skin,

“I’ll always be here for you, Steve. Even in your nightmares.”


End file.
